Manufacturers and traders fight against pesticide ban

Eight manufacturers and distributors of highly toxic pesticides resist a ban in the Federal Administrative Court. This is what the Federal Office of Agriculture (BWL) decided at the end of May. For 30 days, manufacturers and retailers were able to file a complaint.

Three of the plaintiffs generally accept the ban, but require that they can sell their assets. Three others categorically reject the ban. According to a statement released Friday by Greenpeace Switzerland and WWF Switzerland, these three people are Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta and Sintrago.

The Federal Administrative Court confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency that it had received a total of eight complaints. The plaintiffs oppose a BWL decision of May 28, 2019. At that time, the federal board had revoked the twelve pesticide authorizations containing the active ingredients chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl.

According to this, nine of these pesticides must be withdrawn immediately from the market and three others may be sold for another twelve months. Farmers are allowed to use existing stocks for 12 months. In total, the withdrawal concerns 26 products that are among the most used insecticides in the world.

Toxic for humans and the environment

According to Greenpeace Switzerland and WWF Switzerland, chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl are similar in structure to certain chemical warfare agents. They are extremely toxic to birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, insects and especially to all types of bees and bumblebees. The active ingredients also killed life in the soil and damaged their own nutritional base.

Substances are also dangerous for humans. Scientists have shown that the active ingredient during pregnancy can result in brain damage in the unborn child.